


Not So Simple Misunderstandings

by Profrock



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Car Accidents, Hospitalization, M/M, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 19:13:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4491426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Profrock/pseuds/Profrock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was the most regular of Tuesdays in the lives of Dan and Phil. But what happens when Dan gets a call during a liveshow that may change his life forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not So Simple Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

> I have literally seven fics on my flashdrive I'm trying to finish but decided to do this in one sitting instead. Whee, priorities. Anyways. Hope you enjoy, and feedback is always appreciated!
> 
> Based off this prompt on phanfic.tumblr.com (spoiler warning): http://phanfic.tumblr.com/post/124338064550

“’Your outfit is very nice today.’ Aww, thanks Deborah! I’m sure yours is lovely too!” Dan scrolled down a few more asks in his live show, looking for one that said more than ‘hi’.

 

“All of you are saying to get Phil,” he laughed. “Am I no longer enough for you?”

 

Comments flooded in about how he totally was enough, they just really wanted to see Phil too. Dan put a hand to his chest in mock offense.

 

“While I would like nothing more to please all of you guys, I’m sorry but Phil’s out today. David says ‘out where?’ Well David, Phil is out shopping if you must know.” Asks flooded in asking what for.

 

“Great. Now all of you are asking what he’s shopping for. I’ll tell you, since so many of you want to know,” Dan said. He leaned in closer to his webcam. “Sexy lingerie,” he whispered with a straight face. The comments exploded.

 

‘omg ITS ALL 4 U DANNY!!!!!’

 

‘im expecting pics when he gets back’

 

‘yesssss daddy hawt’

 

‘awh why didnt u go with him?’

 

“Guys!” Dan said, laughing. “We aren’t attached at the hip, you know. Anyways, I don’t even know where he is. Okay. Moving on now. Sarah-Sprinkles wants to know a shipping address for one Shiba Inu…”

 

*

 

About another thirty minutes passed, and Dan began to wind down his live show.

 

“It was so great talking to all of you guys, as always,” he said. His phone rang out of nowhere, startling him somewhat. He checked Caller ID. _Unknown Number_.

 

“How much you want to bet it’s going to be a prank call?” he asked. The audience screamed at him to answer it. Dan obliged, sliding his finger to accept the call. “Hello?”

 

“Hello,” the other person on the line said. The voice was deep, unfamiliar to Dan. “Is this Daniel Howell?”

 

“Yes, it is,” Dan said, making ‘I don’t know’ motions at his audience.

 

“You were the first person on Philip Lester’s emergency contact list,” the man informed him. Dan frowned, wondering what this guy was getting at. It was a very weird prank call.

 

“I’m very sorry to inform you, but,” the man took a breath. “Philip is dead.”

 

Dan laughed weakly, the running webcam watching him. He was going to have to have a serious talk with whichever of his friends pulled that prank, especially on a live show.

 

“Okay,” he said. “Joke’s over. Really. Not cool. Who is this? Cat? Chris? Felix? Come on, this isn’t funny.”

 

“This is Dr. Greller. I work at St. Matthias General Hospital. A car hit your friend less than twenty minutes ago. I’m sorry, but he didn’t make it.”

 

Dan was silent. Tears dripped steadily down his face, the still running live show completely forgotten.

 

“Daniel? Are you still there?”

 

“Yeah,” Dan deadpanned. “I am.”

 

“Once again, I am sorry for your loss and to be the one who had to deliver this terrible news to you.” Dr. Greller hung up.

 

The chat was in chaos.

 

Dan pressed his face into his hands, shoulders shaking with the sobs that wracked his form. Notifications from every social media exploded through his phone and laptop, his mobile ringing again, probably from a close friend. Dan ignored it all.

 

The broadcast continued as he wept into his hands, fingers dripping with salty water.

 

“Ph-h-hi-i-il-l,” he choked out through ragged sobs. This couldn’t be happening. Could it? No, of course not. It was all a dream, and he would wake up on the couch with his face smushed into Phil’s shoulder and a kink in his neck and they would laugh about it together.

 

Except he wasn’t waking up.

 

Dan screamed through his tears, curling in on himself and choking on his own yells.

 

Tears and snot and spit smeared over his face, but he was so far from caring. He could only lay there, helpless, as wave after wave of sobs sent violent tremors through him.

 

“Gonna –“ he mumbled at some point, clutching his head and stomach as he fumbled for the small trash bin they kept in the living room next to the sofa. He retched violently, the sickly sweet taste of vomit coating the inside of his mouth. Dan threw up four more times, stomach heaving until there was nothing left in his core aside from the heavy weight of despair and the blossoming pain of loss.

 

Someone pounded mercilessly on Dan’s front door. “Dan!” they shouted. “Dan?!” A key rattled in the lock, and Chris burst through the door. “Dan!”

 

He knelt beside Dan, gathering his trembling frame into his arms. Chris stroked Dan’s hair, rocking them gently back and forth. He didn’t notice the still-running broadcast from Dan’s laptop.

 

“It’s okay,” Chris soothed. “You can scream all you need.”

 

Dan really let loose, shouting and sobbing and clawing at his friend. Chris sat calmly and took it all, not loosening his grip on Dan by a single degree.

 

“I-I _l-love_ hi-im Cris-s,” Dan cried, digging his nails into Chris’s chest. Chris nodded, rubbing Dan’s back soothingly. ”I know, I know.”

 

“We-e wer-re gon-na g-get _mar-ried_ C-Chris,” Dan blubbered. The comments on his broadcast reached an all-new level of hell.

 

“I-I ne-ed to go-o see him-m,” Dan howled out, stumbling desperately to his feet and dragging his sleeve across his face, not really doing much to clean the mess on his face.

 

“Dan, mate, is that really the best idea?” Chris asked gently. Dan nodded violently, another round of tears tracking his down his face and dripping off his chin.

 

“I-I need-“ he whimpered. Chris stood to face him, hands gripping tight on Dan’s shoulders to keep him steady.

 

“Dan, why don’t you just-“ “I NEED HIM!” Dan shrieked, slapping Chris’ hands away. “I need him…”

 

“Dan, please, sit down and we can-“ “NO!” Dan screeched. “I lov-ve him, I need to se-e him…” He lunged over the back of the couch, haphazardly shoving his phone into his pocket and grabbing his wallet before sprinting out the door. Chris watched him leave, his own tears beginning to fall now.

 

He sat heavily on the couch, leaning his elbows on his knees and burying his face into his hands.

 

“Phil,” Chris whispered. “Don’t leave me like this. Don’t leave Dan like this…” He wiped his eyes and clenched his teeth.

 

It was only then that Chris noticed Dan’s laptop open, still broadcasting Dan’s living room to over thirty thousand people. Without a word, he reached out and shut the computer, plunging the thousands of viewers’ screens into darkness.

 

*

 

Dan stumbled out of his flat, squinting in the bright mid-afternoon sunlight. He waved down the first taxi he saw, spilling into the backseat, still in tears.

 

“St. Ma-atthia-s Hos-pit-al,” he managed to get out through his tears. The driver, an older lady, twisted around so she could face him, concern evident on her face.

 

“Sweetheart, you okay?” she asked. Dan shook his head, struggling to get his seatbelt fastened.

 

“What-“ She started, only to be interrupted by the bawling form in her backseat. “M-my Ph-il,” Dan sniveled. “He’s g-gon-ne…”

 

The driver nodded in understanding, pulling away from the curb. “I hear you, boy,” she said gently. She continued to murmur soothing nonsense to Dan the entire trip, totally ignoring all of the traffic laws she was breaking to get Dan to the hospital.

 

*

 

She pulled into a parking spot, turning off the engine and running around the side of the car to help Dan out of the back seat. He stumbled, clutching to her arms to keep himself upright.

 

“Hello,” the cab driver said to the nurse at the desk once they had made it inside. “We’re here for a Phil?”

 

“Last name?” the nurse asked, her tone all business. The cabbie turned to Dan.

 

“L-Lester,” he said. “Phil-ip Lester.”

 

The nurse entered something into her keyboard. “His results are showing up as stable, but he’s not taking visitors at the moment.”

 

Dan’s head spun. “He’s stable?” he asked in disbelief. “I just got a call that he was DEAD!” he shouted, fresh tears falling.

 

“What’s his room number?” he growled. The nurse looked nervous. Dan hoped she was.

 

“Three sixteen,” she stammered out. “But he can’t take visitors right now, so if you’d like to take a seat until the doctors authorize visitors-“

 

“I got a call that my boyfriend _died,”_ Dan hissed dangerously. “If I’m finding out he’s alive, I am sure as hell going to see him.” He spun on his heel, frantically searching the grounds map posted on the wall next to the nurse’s desk. Finding the location of room three sixteen, he looked around wildly before sprinting down one of the hallways.

 

The nurse picked up the phone to call security, but the cabbie laid a hand on hers. “Please,” the cabbie whispered. “Let him go. He’s been more than a wreak on the drive here, let him go to his boyfriend.” The nurse debated for a moment before sighing and relenting, setting the handset back into its cradle.

 

“Thank you,” the cabbie said with a grateful smile. The nurse smiled weakly back at her.

 

*

 

A distraught Dan threw open the door to room three sixteen, lurching up to the side of the small metal bed Phil was confined to. He felt his knees give out and he clutched the metal bars, beginning to cry again, but in relief his time. Phil’s eyes blinked open hesitantly, an oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth and his skin a scarily faded shade of grey.

 

“I love you,” Dan sniveled out. “I love you I love you I love you.”

 

Phil tried to smile through the mask of plastic, the gesture igniting his eyes with love and care. A thin metal contraption around his jaw prevented him from speaking, but Phil raised his hands to his chest.

 

 _I love you too_ , he signed in BSL. Dan smiled and cried even harder. They had both learned how to say simple phrases in BSL months ago. Neither had thought it would ever be useful, until now.

 

A man in a long whit coat stepped into the room, looking up from his clipboard with a great deal of surprise at seeing Dan in the room.

 

“I’m sorry sir, but Mr. Lester is not allowed to have visitors at the moment. His condition is very unstable and he needs time to rest before we can authorize-“

 

“Are you Dr. Greller?” Dan asked with a dangerous lilt to his voice. The man nodded hesitantly.

 

“You’re the one who called me? Who told me the man in this bed right here, smiling at me, was _dead_?” he howled. The doctor backed away from Dan’s advancing form, fear evident on his face.

 

“Please sir, it was a simple misunderstanding, we mixed up the charts with Mr. Lester and the person across the hall-“

 

Dan made an inhuman noise of pain, barely stopping himself from rushing the medical man. He punched a wall instead, pounding his knuckles into plaster repeatedly until they bled.

 

He slumped down against the wall suddenly, startling Dr. Greller, who was trying to call for security.

 

“Please, don’t make me go,” Dan begged, dragging himself over to Phil’s bedside.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, just please don’t make me go,” he babbled desperately. The doctor stared for a moment before relenting, stepping forward to check some things on the monitor beside Phil.

 

“You’re alive,” Dan cried out in pure joy at the light in Phil’s eyes. “You’re alive and you’re okay and you’re _alive_.”

 

Dan sent a quick text to Chris with the update, confident that he would spread the news through social media. He then turned off his phone, dragging one of the chairs from the edge of the room right up to the side of Phil’s bed, leaning in and brushing Phil’s sweat-sticky hair off his forehead.

 

Phil reached a shaking hand out to the stand next to his bed, one trembling finger pointing to a small velvet box. Dan didn’t even need to open it, his eyes prickling with new tears despite having cried more that day than he ever had in his life. He nodded, pressing a tender, delicate kiss to Phil’s forehead.

 

Phil fell asleep in less than a minute, Dan following suit soon after.

 

*

 

Phil was indeed hit by a car. His right leg, both feet, right hip, four ribs, left wrist and right arm had been broken. His skull and jaw had been cracked and his right lung had been punctured, requiring immediate emergency surgery. Phil was confined to bed for four weeks until he was even well enough to stand up and move around his small room. It took another three weeks before he could walk on his own, and two more before he was released from the hospital. Dan had spent all the time he could by Phil’s side, never going home for longer than twenty-four hours at a time. Both of their YouTube channels and all of their social media were abandoned for those nine weeks, all of the questions and concerns from their fans going unanswered. Their friends answered some of the questions as best as they could, but no one could really reach either Dan or Phil with any reliability.

 

No one knew when Phil were being released, so there was no huge crowd outside of the hospital as Dan and Phil made their way into the waiting taxi. They held hands all the way home, Dan getting out first once the car pulled to a stop and opening Phil’s door for him, helping him out.

 

The cabbie waved and hugged both of the boys, declining any payment before driving off. Dan helped Phil slowly up the stairs, gentle and encouraging the whole four flights. Phil was exhausted by the time they reached the top and leant against the wall, panting and sweating.

 

Dan twisted his key in the lock, helping Phil to a spot on the couch before returning to retrieve his keys out of the lock and shut the door.

 

“Dan?” Phil asked.

 

“Yeah Phil?”

 

“Would you mind setting up the tripod and camera? And bringing me a clean shirt. And changing into one yourself. I think we owe the internet an explanation.”

 

Dan smiled, leaning in to peck Phil’s cheek before gathering the requested items.

 

*

 

Fiona Marshall yawned. It was past four-thirty in the morning. She really needed to get to bed. Her browser refreshed, her YouTube inbox pinging with an upload from one of the people she was subscribed to: AmazingPhil.

 

She clicked the link immediately, her favorite YouTuber’s channel page beginning to load. He and Dan had been absent from the internet for months following the hospital debacle, and she was excited and a little bit apprehensive to see what they came back with.. She clicked the newest video, simply titled _Hello Again_.

 

“Hi guys,” Phil said. He looked thin, much unhealthier than he had in his last uploaded video, more than ten weeks ago. Dan was seated next to him, looking slightly sickly as well, paler and skinnier.

 

“So as you may know, Phil was in the hospital recently,” Dan said. “He was hit by a car.” Fiona gasped. She had known something was up – she was watching Dan’s live show, and she had read all of the tweets by their friends afterwards - but it was still a shock to hear.

 

“I broke a lot of stuff, so I had to stay there for a while for surgeries and general recovery,” Phil chimed in. “I know I look even more like a vampire now that you can see my ribs, but it’s only because I wasn’t able to eat for the first three weeks due to a broken jaw.” He lifted up his neck, displaying his jawline to the camera. “Do you see the scars? They had to put metal into my jawbone to keep it in place. So now I’m part robot.” He did a stupid little dance with robot-like sound effects.

 

Dan smiled affectionately, lacing his fingers together with Phil’s.

 

“Phil got hit while he was out shopping,” Dan said, turning to face the camera. “He was buying something for me.”

 

He held up their linked hands, the silver band gleaming on his left ring finger. “We’re getting married in July,” he said with the biggest, most genuine smile Fiona had ever seen him wear. “I love him.”

 

“And I love you too,” Phil said, pressing a quick kiss to the underside of Dan’s jaw. Fiona had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from squealing too loud.

 

“You don’t need to know the entire history of us, so we’ll just do the abridged version,” Phil said. “So basically,”

 

“When we met,”

 

“We were just friends,”

 

“But then we grew closer,”

 

“And by the time we moved in together,”

 

“We were dating.” Dan smiled wide again.

 

“Also,” Phil said. “To any of you who have recorded Dan’s YouNow where this-“ he made an expansive gesture with his arms “-all happens, or have gif sets or find videos or anything posted of or about it, please delete them.”

 

“Yeah,” Dan said. “Please. It’s really hard to look at that, and we just think that’s something that doesn’t need to be shared anymore.”

 

“But this does.” Phil positively beamed, turning the tractor-beam force of his smile straight on to Dan. They kissed.

 

“Goodbye internet,” Dan said with a grin and the tip of his fingers in a small salute. “We’ll speak to you again soon, I promise.”

 

And the screen went black.

 

Fiona stared at the dark screen for a number of minutes after the video had finished, simply trying to process all that had happened in that one minute. She quickly copied the link and posted it to her blog as well as a post about what Dan and Phil had said about the recording of the one live show. She scrolled down her feed to a couple of months ago, deleting all of the gif sets she had reblogged of Dan’s YouNow. She smiled idiotically, unable to stop herself from giggling.

 

Fiona Marshall was happy. Her idols were happy and healthy and _together_ , and she would do whatever she could to keep them that way.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah hahahahahahahahaimahorriblepersonbecausenobodylovesmehahahahahahahahaha


End file.
